Central China's Henan Province has promised to provide more
support for orphans of AIDS victims.
With 14 percent of China's HIV-positive population, some 11,844
people, Henan has more than 2,026 children orphaned by the deadly
virus.
Henan is also one of several provinces where hundreds were
infected by illegal blood transfusions.
In the early 1990s, many low-income farmers from such provinces
as Henan,
Shanxi
and Sichuan
sold plasma to illegal blood stations.
Their blood was sometimes infected. They also passed the disease
to their wives or husbands.
In recent years, those HIV carriers became full-blown AIDS
patients, leaving more and more orphans in need of help.
A joint investigation by the Ministry of Health and the United
Nations last year showed China currently has around 840,000
HIV/AIDS sufferers.
HIV/AIDS has not only claimed thousands of lives and created a
heavy economic burden for the developing country, but has also left
many orphans in dire financial circumstances and without any money
to go to school.
While taking tough measures to prevent the spread of AIDS, the
province has tried to provide subsistence and schooling to those
orphans, provincial governor Wang Jumei told China Youth
Daily Friday.
Some of the orphans are raised by relatives or adopted by other
families, to each of whom, the government allocates 100 yuan
(US$12) every month as a living subsidy.
The rest of the orphans are accommodated in public orphanages,
Wang said.
Nationwide, the central government had also worked to prevent
the epidemic from spreading, provide medical and living relief for
sufferers and help the orphans left by HIV/AIDS victims.
For example, it promised last year to provide free medical
treatment for poor HIV/AIDS sufferers who can't afford medicine and
other medical services.
Also the State Council issued a national program of HIV/AIDS
prevention and control in the middle of 1990s, which aims to limit
the number of HIV/AIDS cases to 1.5 million by 2010.
Experts warned that, without immediate measures, about 10
million people may become infected.
The number of cases is rising by 30 percent every year.
(China Daily February 14, 2004)